"And All The Who's Down In Who-Ville..."--Also Known As The Best Day Date Ever.

So, I decided to sit back, take some good advice(*wink,wink*), read my old blog posts--the happy ones!--pray about everything, and just....think about mine and Steven's relationship; where I wanted it to go, where I THOUGHT he wanted it to go, what I loved about him, what I loved about us, how I could more lovingly approach him about things that bothered me...all of it.

And, I decided to celebrate our half anniversary, despite how I was feeling about everything. After all--how many times have I said or thought that the best way to spite our pain and our struggles is to improve? I saw a kind of cheesy romance pic the other day, but I really was struck by it:


So, I decided--again--that that was going to be us. I reminded myself that, in order for a relationship to grow and improve, every day has to be a new decision to love someone, to build them up instead of tear them down, to look for the ways they are amazing, instead of picking out their faults.

For our half anniversary, I made an ABC card deck, basically. Each letter had a card. On each front, there was either a memory or quote that I felt personified "us". On each back, there was an instruction or a question meant to spark deep, meaningful conversation. I found as I worked on this little project that it was easy to remember all the reasons that I loved him when I was looking for that, instead of the ways he drove me crazy. By the time I got off work Sunday morning, I was super stoked. I couldn't wait to get home--I ran straight through the house without turning on a single light and jumped up on the bed.

"Steven, wake up!! It's our Merry Half Anniversary!!" I gushed. He opened one eye.
"It is," he agreed. "Good morning--did you look on the kitchen counter?" I shook my head and thrust my carefully prepared cards towards him. He shook his head. "Go turn on the light and look on the counter." And, there were roses! Deeply red and placed sweetly next to a box of chocolates. :)

We ended up going to ASL  2 and 3's play instead of really celebrating that night, so we moved the rest of the celebration on to yesterday.

We had a big day date! We went and got our tree, tied it up onto his little BMW hatchback and brought it home. Steven good-naturedly allowed me to play Christmas music, wear red reindeer antlers, and place a Santa hat on him while we decorated our tree. :) For reference:

 Our tree....

And, then, the rest of our date!! We created a Graham Cracker Who-Ville!! From How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was a blast...please ignore any mess in the background...we hadn't cleaned up from making all the icing and such. :) Steven did it all from scratch!

                                                     Who-Ville

 Despite what Steven says, this is a cave on a mountain. It is. That square thing underneath--it IS a mountain. I promise...

 Their little Who-Ville tree.

 My two houses..

Steven's two houses. :) His were probably more Who-y.

Anyway, just wanted to say, the date went great, and, as always, after encouragement and prayer and thought--things look better in the morning. :)

P.S. If you decide to give this project a shot--do what we did. Put cling wrap over the counter so it doesn't make such a big mess...seriously. Because this...this was a mess waiting to happen...

:)